Who the hell would have ever thought Battier would outscore Kobe by 8 points?!
OK, it’s not basketball, but since Houston had such a good sports weekend … Dynamo girls. Check out the abs!
I wish the Lakers would show half the balls and grit of the Celtics.
Me too. It pains me to say this, but I don’t believe the Lakers have the heart, hunger, motivation or team spirit to win the championship. They’ve carried themselves with a sense of overconfidence and entitlement, and they’ve grown to depend on their immense offensive talent way too much. They lack the ingredients of a championship team.
The tattered Celtics who really have no realistic shot at the title are playing every game like its their last. Those guys are playing for pride, know how to win, and THINK they can win.
Lakers embarrassed me today.
If the Lakers continue to play the way they have in the playoffs, no way are they getting past Chauncey, Melo, Birdman and the Nuggets in the Conf. Finals.
Great weekend of games. I wasn’t shocked that DAL lost game 3. After all, they were up the whole game, then Dirk missed 3 shots down the stretch, then Melo coming up mega with a three. I know Dirk is having personal problems now, and I don’t know if that affected his performance, but still, he’s a professional basketball player, and he gets paid big bucks to make big baskets, and he didn’t come through on Saturday.
Denver, on the other hand, is looking great. They are playing their best ball at the right time, and at this point, I wouldn’t doubt it if they beat LAL or HOU on their way to the NBA Finals.
BOS showing a lot of heart. Big Baby coming up clutch at the end of the game last night. The play was set up perfect. Pierce gets the ball, draws the double team, dishes to Davis who is wide open and knocks it down like he’s supposed to. Eddie House has been unstoppable as of late. That shot is the turning point in the series, because ORL would have been up 3-1 if he would have missed.
Not much to say about CLE, we all knew it would be business as usual. In game 1, when LBJ opened the game with a dunk, I knew this would be a long series for ATL. The Hawks have nothing to be ashamed of, though. They took BOS to 7 in the first round last year before losing, they took MIA to Game 7 this year and won, but they have crossed the best team in the league, who is still undefeated in the playoffs.
HOU is for real. They have an All-Star team sitting on the bench, but everyone else is stepping up big, especially AB as previously mentioned. The role players for HOU (Landry, Lowry, Wafer, etc) are stepping up and coming through for the Rockets, and they made the Lakers look bad yesterday. And Battier is a machine, hands down. He understands his role and fits in well with the system. I can honestly say he’s one of the few guys in the NBA who knew he had to take a reduced role from college, and he accepted it with open arms and is flourishing.
LAL is looking kinda shaky. Kobe did have 40 the other night, but struggled yesterday. Pau had 30, but not much else from anyone else. I do think the Lakers will still advance, however, if they meet DEN in the Conference Finals, I wouldn’t be surprised to see DEN move on, considering the way they are playing. Lakers aren’t playing with heart or a sense of urgency, that needs to change pretty quickly. Andrew Bynum looks lost on the floor at times. I know he’s still young, he’ll get it together soon enough.
When watching the LAL/HOU game, I realized how much Sasha and Scola look alike, even though they are from two totally different countries. Maybe it’s the hair.
Chuck Daly RIP. Great man. Great coach. Respect.
if theres one thing Boston teams in general know how to do, its bust their fucking ass. the mustve picked it up from living here.
What did you guys think about the no-call on Antoine Wright at the end of Game 3 Den/Dallas? Even though the NBA says they should have called it, I’m not too sure. Wright threw up his hands like he didn’t touch him or something. I mean he should have wrapped Melo up. Bottom line: As you guys have pointed out, Dallas had plenty of chances to win. Cuban is an embarrasment. Frankly, I’d file assault charges if I were the camera man.
Props to the Rockets they are making me eat my words. Still, I don’t think they will win this series.
[quote]deputydawg wrote:
What did you guys think about the no-call on Antoine Wright at the end of Game 3 Den/Dallas? Even though the NBA says they should have called it, I’m not too sure. Wright threw up his hands like he didn’t touch him or something. I mean he should have wrapped Melo up. Bottom line: As you guys have pointed out, Dallas had plenty of chances to win. Cuban is an embarrasment. Frankly, I’d file assault charges if I were the camera man.
Props to the Rockets they are making me eat my words. Still, I don’t think they will win this series. [/quote]
The hands up usually means that a foul was created, and the person who fouled is accepting it and claiming that he fouled, as opposed to arguing with the refs about it. He raised his hand in anticipation of a foul call, which never happened. I think its completely disheartening that the Mavs are gonna go out like that. There have been too many games this playoffs that seem like they have been decided by the refs, and this one is perhaps the most direct.
[quote]Malevolence wrote:
Today, Dirk Nowitzki did nothing to shake his stigma of being bad at clutch shots. Very Tough loss for the Mavericks. Denver is looking surprisingly legit.
Yao is out for the rest of the Post-season with a hairline fracture in his foot. This sucks, he was playing with so much intensity and passion, I know it was against my team, but I hope he recovers sooner than later, and can continue to compete like this in the future. I don’t expect the Rockets to lay down and die, I just hope that the series can end cleanly. It’s been far too chippy.
It’s not that the Cavaliers aren’t playing great ball, but they are also very heavily protected. I only caught the second half of Game 3 in ATL, right when the Hawks went on a 13 point blitz, as soon as the Hawks got the lead, the whistles started blowing, a terrible ejection was levied, and the Cavs were placed back on top. After that, the Hawks clearly lost their mojo and meandered through the remaining period. The last 3 minutes of that game were unnecessary.
ESPN cannot stop hugging Lebron’s nuts. Granted, Lebron holds the ball at least 95% of the time for Cleveland, so the attention is extra distilled, they still can’t help themselves with wild assertions and exaggerations every time he farts. Even while he was in the midst of missing his last 6 shots, having a turnover, and getting blocked, they were still saying things like “You just don’t understand how good this kid is, and he’s so humble, and so smart, and so strong…etc.”
I can’t remember the last time a player got this type of love. Kobe definitely never did…
The Magic better finish off the Celtics soon. Stan Van Gundy recently made some press comments about the absurdity of recent actions from Stu Jackson and David Stern. Questioning their unbiased stance and bringing up the severely bad calls they’ve made this postseason. If he doesn’t get fined outright, I can’t imagine going against the people you’re accusing of unfairly handling games will turn out in your favor…
And that’s all I’ve got from around the league. [/quote]
I could not agree with the treatment of Lebron by ESPN more. No NBA player gets the kind of positive reviews he does while playing like shit. Even when Kobe made that 37-foot three pointer to end the 3rd quarter in Game 3, ESPN called it a “copy-cat” move of Lebron’s from the day before. Its true, Lebron hit a similar shot the day before, but copy-cat, are you kidding me?
Ever since the Colorado events, Kobe’s never been a favorite of the media and even the NBA itself. Lebron is an amazing player, no doubt. There are things that he can do that are just on another level, but no player in the NBA is as skilled or has the talent that Kobe has acquired throughout the years.
Its funny, when Kobe shoots alot of shots nd plays well, they call it ballhogging. When he scores few with few shots, they call him weak. When Lebron busts out 40-50 points, they call it taking the team on his shoulders and leading them to victory. Him shooting less than 20? They call it deferring to his teammates and being a team player (even when his assist totals are low). There is no consistency, just nut-hugging and propoganda. The NBA’s put all their money on Lebron, so why not run with it, right?
[quote]Kaizen08 wrote:
deputydawg wrote:
What did you guys think about the no-call on Antoine Wright at the end of Game 3 Den/Dallas? Even though the NBA says they should have called it, I’m not too sure. Wright threw up his hands like he didn’t touch him or something. I mean he should have wrapped Melo up. Bottom line: As you guys have pointed out, Dallas had plenty of chances to win. Cuban is an embarrasment. Frankly, I’d file assault charges if I were the camera man.
Props to the Rockets they are making me eat my words. Still, I don’t think they will win this series.
The hands up usually means that a foul was created, and the person who fouled is accepting it and claiming that he fouled, as opposed to arguing with the refs about it. He raised his hand in anticipation of a foul call, which never happened. I think its completely disheartening that the Mavs are gonna go out like that. There have been too many games this playoffs that seem like they have been decided by the refs, and this one is perhaps the most direct.[/quote]
Then instead of trying to bump into him he should have just wrapped him up. Rule #1 if your gonna foul then do it!!! Don’t run into him and expect a ref to call it, also you play till the whistle sounds you don’t hear it then you keep playing. I agree their probably should have been a foul called but…
He should have just completely grabbed Melo and removed all doubt.
[quote]Kaizen08 wrote:
Malevolence wrote:
Today, Dirk Nowitzki did nothing to shake his stigma of being bad at clutch shots. Very Tough loss for the Mavericks. Denver is looking surprisingly legit.
Yao is out for the rest of the Post-season with a hairline fracture in his foot. This sucks, he was playing with so much intensity and passion, I know it was against my team, but I hope he recovers sooner than later, and can continue to compete like this in the future. I don’t expect the Rockets to lay down and die, I just hope that the series can end cleanly. It’s been far too chippy.
It’s not that the Cavaliers aren’t playing great ball, but they are also very heavily protected. I only caught the second half of Game 3 in ATL, right when the Hawks went on a 13 point blitz, as soon as the Hawks got the lead, the whistles started blowing, a terrible ejection was levied, and the Cavs were placed back on top. After that, the Hawks clearly lost their mojo and meandered through the remaining period. The last 3 minutes of that game were unnecessary.
ESPN cannot stop hugging Lebron’s nuts. Granted, Lebron holds the ball at least 95% of the time for Cleveland, so the attention is extra distilled, they still can’t help themselves with wild assertions and exaggerations every time he farts. Even while he was in the midst of missing his last 6 shots, having a turnover, and getting blocked, they were still saying things like “You just don’t understand how good this kid is, and he’s so humble, and so smart, and so strong…etc.”
I can’t remember the last time a player got this type of love. Kobe definitely never did…
The Magic better finish off the Celtics soon. Stan Van Gundy recently made some press comments about the absurdity of recent actions from Stu Jackson and David Stern. Questioning their unbiased stance and bringing up the severely bad calls they’ve made this postseason. If he doesn’t get fined outright, I can’t imagine going against the people you’re accusing of unfairly handling games will turn out in your favor…
And that’s all I’ve got from around the league.
I could not agree with the treatment of Lebron by ESPN more. No NBA player gets the kind of positive reviews he does while playing like shit. Even when Kobe made that 37-foot three pointer to end the 3rd quarter in Game 3, ESPN called it a “copy-cat” move of Lebron’s from the day before. Its true, Lebron hit a similar shot the day before, but copy-cat, are you kidding me?
Ever since the Colorado events, Kobe’s never been a favorite of the media and even the NBA itself. Lebron is an amazing player, no doubt. There are things that he can do that are just on another level, but no player in the NBA is as skilled or has the talent that Kobe has acquired throughout the years.
Its funny, when Kobe shoots alot of shots nd plays well, they call it ballhogging. When he scores few with few shots, they call him weak. When Lebron busts out 40-50 points, they call it taking the team on his shoulders and leading them to victory. Him shooting less than 20? They call it deferring to his teammates and being a team player (even when his assist totals are low). There is no consistency, just nut-hugging and propoganda. The NBA’s put all their money on Lebron, so why not run with it, right?[/quote]
I also could not agree more with the assessment of LeBron. Not to take anything away from him. Within a couple of years at the most, he will undoubtedly be the best player in the league. What is unfortunate, though, is the media treatment that Kobe receives. It seems he’s in a no-win situation, like y’all have pointed out. Score 60? Ball hog. Score 10? Well, he’s no LeBron.
Kobe is the most complete player in the league. His skill set is unmatched. He can score from anywhere on the court and unlike LeBron, his midrange jump shot is as good as they come.
The Lakers may be in a battle with Houston right now, but let’s not forget, that same Rockets team put a beatdown earlier this year on Cleveland and held LeBron to his worst game as a pro. In fact, he recorded no assists for the first time in his career. Not to mention the Lakers’ season sweep of the Cavs.
And going back to last summer, the USA would not have won that Olympic gold without Kobe. Against Spain in the final, with the US looking confused and on the ropes, Kobe just took the game over. His defensive intensity set the tone for the Olympic team.
With all that said, LeBron and his Cavs are playing magnificent ball right now and are probably the favorites to win the title. But if the Lakers get their heads on straight, it could be very interesting.
Skills aside, you have to admit that Lebron on paper is like the perfect teammate. Unselfish, plays for the team, good passer, etc… Not only that, but he’s been that way since day 1. Kobe on the other hand had the shaq drama, wanted to be traded, and was called out as a bad teammate by his coach even. For the two years after shaq left, he tried to run a one-man team. Kobe has only recently started to get his teammate involved.
It’s hard not to get excited about Lebron because honestly, there’s no one else like him. Kobe on the other hand is skilled, but after that the talk stops.
What is going on with the reffing? Seriously, are they trying to steer games, lengthen series, what? Why do national market teams with star players get more calls than less popular teams? Why so many fouls lately? Nuggets-Mavs game three a lot of guys were in foul trouble. Then they mess up the intentional foul. They don’t call the first one, so now if they call the second one Denver won’t have time. Then they don’t call the second one probably not expecting it to backfire with a super clutch shot by Melo.
Last nights game was even tighter. So many fouls were called the game took forever. A ton of free-throws were taken and there were technicals and flagrants at the drop of a hat. I think it really hurt the Nuggets though, because in the last minutes of the fourth quarter, Melo and Kenyon Martin got bunk fouls on Nowitzky and then Melo was standing around doing nothing and got poked in the eye and somehow got whistled for a foul. Those bad fouls really matter when both teams are in the bonus. I think it kind of makes the game three screw-up a wash. The same kind of things seem to be going on in other games too. It’s always been that way to some extent, but it just seems more pronounced now, what gives?
On a side note, what is up with Cuban harrasing Kenyon’s mom and the cameraman after game three. You’re up set, we get it, you’re also a public figure and an adult. Then the crowd harrasing Kenyon’s family in game four? Wednesday’s game in Denver could get messy if the crowd retaliates and the chippy play on the floor escalates. Hopefully not, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Dirk on the other hand took the no-call and hints of a new, fierce rivalry with Denver in stride and showed perspective, and maturity. As for the rest, stay classy Dallas.
[quote]Kaizen08 wrote:
I could not agree with the treatment of Lebron by ESPN more. No NBA player gets the kind of positive reviews he does while playing like shit. Even when Kobe made that 37-foot three pointer to end the 3rd quarter in Game 3, ESPN called it a “copy-cat” move of Lebron’s from the day before. Its true, Lebron hit a similar shot the day before, but copy-cat, are you kidding me?
Ever since the Colorado events, Kobe’s never been a favorite of the media and even the NBA itself. Lebron is an amazing player, no doubt. There are things that he can do that are just on another level, but no player in the NBA is as skilled or has the talent that Kobe has acquired throughout the years.
Its funny, when Kobe shoots alot of shots nd plays well, they call it ballhogging. When he scores few with few shots, they call him weak. When Lebron busts out 40-50 points, they call it taking the team on his shoulders and leading them to victory. Him shooting less than 20? They call it deferring to his teammates and being a team player (even when his assist totals are low). There is no consistency, just nut-hugging and propoganda. The NBA’s put all their money on Lebron, so why not run with it, right?[/quote]
QFT
[quote]lanchefan1 wrote:
Kaizen08 wrote:
deputydawg wrote:
What did you guys think about the no-call on Antoine Wright at the end of Game 3 Den/Dallas? Even though the NBA says they should have called it, I’m not too sure. Wright threw up his hands like he didn’t touch him or something. I mean he should have wrapped Melo up. Bottom line: As you guys have pointed out, Dallas had plenty of chances to win. Cuban is an embarrasment. Frankly, I’d file assault charges if I were the camera man.
Props to the Rockets they are making me eat my words. Still, I don’t think they will win this series.
The hands up usually means that a foul was created, and the person who fouled is accepting it and claiming that he fouled, as opposed to arguing with the refs about it. He raised his hand in anticipation of a foul call, which never happened. I think its completely disheartening that the Mavs are gonna go out like that. There have been too many games this playoffs that seem like they have been decided by the refs, and this one is perhaps the most direct.
Then instead of trying to bump into him he should have just wrapped him up. Rule #1 if your gonna foul then do it!!! Don’t run into him and expect a ref to call it, also you play till the whistle sounds you don’t hear it then you keep playing. I agree their probably should have been a foul called but…
He should have just completely grabbed Melo and removed all doubt.[/quote]
Yeah I agree, if you’re going to foul, make it obvious. Push him, wrap him up, do something. Don’t foul and think the refs will bail you out.
[quote]Xeneize wrote:
Kaizen08 wrote:
Malevolence wrote:
I also could not agree more with the assessment of LeBron. Not to take anything away from him. Within a couple of years at the most, he will undoubtedly be the best player in the league. What is unfortunate, though, is the media treatment that Kobe receives. It seems he’s in a no-win situation, like y’all have pointed out. Score 60? Ball hog. Score 10? Well, he’s no LeBron.
Kobe is the most complete player in the league. His skill set is unmatched. He can score from anywhere on the court and unlike LeBron, his midrange jump shot is as good as they come.
[/quote]
Yeah I agree with LBJ being the best and Kobe getting the cold shoulder at times. I will say that LBJ is the best player in the league, no question (with Kobe a close second), and I honestly think that LeBron has more talent than Jordan, but there are two things he is lacking for now: heart and mind. I find LeBron to be a punk, arrogant, and full of himself. For example, in all of his commercials/endorsements, they are direct praise of LeBron in one form or another (people saying he’s the king, he’s a great lawyer, State Farm/Cleveland Browns commercial, etc), whereas other athletes, they are the showpiece of the greater good of a commercial.
I’m not taking anything away from his physical ability, but mentally, he has some catching up to do. Once he learns to master the mind game, he’ll be good (he already has the refs in his back pocket).
It took MJ seven years to win his first title, and this is LeBron’s sixth season. He has definitely learned from the NBA Finals defeat of two years ago, and instead of getting swept, the Cavs are sweeping up instead.
Feel free to chastise me of my comments about LeBron. He’s a great player, but I’m not a huge fan of him.
Did you see this situation with Big Baby running into a kid after hitting the GW shot on Sunday.
The dad is demanding an apology. What a clown. First off, the dad stated Davis acted like a “raging animal with no regard for fans’ personal safety.” That’s a lie. Davis didn’t push the kid or talk trash to him, he ran into him and knocked off his hat. The kid wasn’t hurt. Nothing to it.
Second, ‘personal safety’ is a main factor if you are sitting courtside. When you sit there, you are fully aware of the risks of sitting that close to the court, because there is a high probability player(s)/ref(s) will run into you in the moment of play. If the dad is concerned for personal safety, go sit higher up, and I’ll gladly take your seats and have Big Baby push me instead.
Third, if you watch the video, I assume the dad is to the left of the kid, wearing white pants and a light blue shirt (since there are teenagers to the right of the kid, and he is the closest adult). If that indeed is the dad, he didn’t even see his son get his hat knocked off, he was looking the other way!!!
Lastly, the dad said “And it’s better to forget about it and not incite it anymore.” Well, if it’s better to forget about it and not incite it anymore, when why did he bring it up in the first place?
Sorry, I just don’t have any tolerance for stupidity.
[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
Xeneize wrote:
Kaizen08 wrote:
Malevolence wrote:
I also could not agree more with the assessment of LeBron. Not to take anything away from him. Within a couple of years at the most, he will undoubtedly be the best player in the league. What is unfortunate, though, is the media treatment that Kobe receives. It seems he’s in a no-win situation, like y’all have pointed out. Score 60? Ball hog. Score 10? Well, he’s no LeBron.
Kobe is the most complete player in the league. His skill set is unmatched. He can score from anywhere on the court and unlike LeBron, his midrange jump shot is as good as they come.
Yeah I agree with LBJ being the best and Kobe getting the cold shoulder at times. I will say that LBJ is the best player in the league, no question (with Kobe a close second), and I honestly think that LeBron has more talent than Jordan, but there are two things he is lacking for now: heart and mind. I find LeBron to be a punk, arrogant, and full of himself. For example, in all of his commercials/endorsements, they are direct praise of LeBron in one form or another (people saying he’s the king, he’s a great lawyer, State Farm/Cleveland Browns commercial, etc), whereas other athletes, they are the showpiece of the greater good of a commercial.
I’m not taking anything away from his physical ability, but mentally, he has some catching up to do. Once he learns to master the mind game, he’ll be good (he already has the refs in his back pocket).
It took MJ seven years to win his first title, and this is LeBron’s sixth season. He has definitely learned from the NBA Finals defeat of two years ago, and instead of getting swept, the Cavs are sweeping up instead.
Feel free to chastise me of my comments about LeBron. He’s a great player, but I’m not a huge fan of him.[/quote]
Kobe Bryant is still the best player on the planet, even James himself would agree with that, and that right there is why he’ll always be second. And I’m not sure how you can say that James has more talent than Jordan. Jordan is the GOAT, Lebron’s what would happen if Karl Malone and Clyde Drexler had a baby. Not a big fan of LBJ, but I do recognize his talent. With that, there’s no way he wins a title without “the man” paving his way for him.